Charting the World

July 1, 2011

Historical examples and enrichment activities aplenty partly compensate for dry prose and iffy language in this broad overview of maps and their uses.

In topical chapters, the author covers the development of local and world maps, explains map reading in painstaking detail, covers geophysical features and forces, focuses on New World maps, then closes with considerations of specialized and political uses of maps and (in a cursory way) how satellites have mapped our planet and others. Absent a needed illustration of the prehistoric maps he mentions, there are otherwise color maps or photos on every spread, accompanying barrages of informative observations and facts. Some of these, like a tally of European explorers who "discovered" parts of the Americas and a note that gold rush prospectors encountered "Indians, mountains, deserts, and great rivers" on their way to the gold fields, could have been more sensitively expressed. Aside from a vague invitation to disprove the four-color theorem somehow by coloring a map, the 21 side activities are enlightening and range widely in difficulty without requiring expensive or hard-to-get materials. If readers come away thinking that "graphy" is a Greek word, they'll also have a clear notion of why maps are worth studying.

A wide-angled survey, but the pictures carry the problematic narrative. (bibliography, online resource list, index; not seen) (Nonfiction. 10-14)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2012

Gr 6 Up-Serious map junkies and aspiring cartographers will find this book fascinating, but many general readers will be lost. One disappointment is that the maps are so small. The author recommends copying them for the suggested projects, but a magnifying glass will also be useful. Much attention is devoted to how maps have been produced over time: from an initial outline on a rock to developments involving etching copper plates and eventually aerial mapping using satellites and computers. Because discovering the Americas required charting undocumented territory, the book primarily focuses on the time period after 1492 and more specifically on mapping the United States. Numerous historical facts such as the settlement of the Canadian/American border, the Missouri Compromise, and the origin of the Mason-Dixon Line are included. The author explains how maps can help track the outbreak of disease or outline political sensibilities in an election year. He discusses treasure maps and how they first appeared in literature. While noteworthy, these sorts of details clutter the presentation. With its vast array of information delivered in dense text, this volume is for dedicated students. Others may simply examine the captions. Projects employ easily accessible materials, but with complicated explanations and the math element inherent to mapping, they may also be daunting.-Janet S. Thompson, Chicago Public Library

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